Secrets of Sports Psychology Revealed

Proven Techniques to Elevate Your Performance

Rick Wolff

• Editorial: Skyhorse
• Año: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781510716384
• Categoría: Psychologie
• Categoría: Sportpsychologie

The world of sports psychology and in the introduction of mental skills coaches has exploded into the athletic mainstream over the last few decades. Before then, the attitude regarding such training was extremely conservative and "old school"—the prevailing philosophy was that "any athlete who needs to talk with a shrink needs to have their head examined."Fortunately, with today's modern athletes, the dark ages of mental training in sports have gone away and times have changed for the better. But as with any growing industry, there are lots of new and untested pathways to one's mental performance training in practices and games. But depending on who you talk to, the advice that is given can vary widely—and sometimes, even be contradictory. The Secrets of Sports Psychology Revealed by Rick Wolff, one of the pioneers in the field of sports psychology, is based upon his many years of clinical, hands-on work with top professional and amateur athletes in a variety of sports. He provides real insight into what does—and doesn't—work. Specifically:

• Do pre-game visualization techniques really work?
• Is it OK to be superstitious, or are those rituals counterproductive?
• Does taking a deep breath or two in a tight situation really help?
• What's the best way to learn how to make adjustments in one's game?
• These direct questions, and many others, are presented and answered in this easy to use how-to guide aimed directly at athletes and coaches. The answers are right to the point and are based upon the author's observations and work over the years with top athletes.

1

AN INTRODUCTION TO SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

“IT WAS A REALLY TOUGH thirty minutes for me that hopefully I never experience again.”

Those were the words of Jordan Spieth right after the 2016 Masters golf tournament when, after cruising along seemingly effortlessly for three days with a five-shot lead heading to the 10th tee on the final back nine, Spieth uncharacteristically fell apart with consecutive bogeys followed by a quadruple bogey before putting the brakes on this unexpected meltdown.

Problem was, by the time the twenty-two-year-old Spieth had recovered his bearings, his 5-shot lead had evaporated and Danny Willett, a not-well-known Englishman, had taken over the lead and never looked back. Willett won the tournament, a tournament he didn’t expect to play in. He had actually circled the date on his calendar, but because his wife was due with their first child at the same time, Willet assumed he would be at her side instead of competing. But their son arrived a bit earlier than expected, and as such, Willett headed to Georgia to compete.

By the way, although the sports world focused its attention on the travails of Spieth, what was overlooked was that Willett was five shots behind Spieth with just six holes to play. While Jordan was collapsing, Danny shot a 5-under 67 for the day, which matched the best score of the weekend. He had no bogeys in his last round.

Put another way, while Spieth was having fits down the stretch, Willett was calmly going about his business. I’m quite sure he was well aware of what has happening to Spieth’s lead, but Willett found a way to play his game and not be distracted.

I use this example from the world of golf because in many ways, it symbolizes what kind of role sports psychology can play in highly competitive events. While there might have been some technical adjustments that Jordan should have made to his game when he was going through this rough patch, the truth is that, physically, he was in good shape. He wasn’t tired, or weak, or in poor health. He just made some bad decisions on his shots, and as he tried to salvage his game, he apparently made some more poor decisions.

This takes us into the realm of sports psychology.

On the other hand, Danny didn’t allow the building excitement or adrenaline rush get in the way of his game. He played on with a stoic approach, not allowing the unexpected developments to impede or get in the way of his mental approach.

One fateful afternoon of golf. Two amazingly talented golfers. And yet, one was able to maintain a solid mental focus while the other apparently fell victim to psychological disaster.

That evening and for the next few days, sports radio talk shows were filled with callers who had compassionate advice for Jordan Spieth:

“What he needs to do is to go out right away on Augusta National and play those three holes he screwed up on, and play them again. He needs to convince himself that he can handle and master those holes. Otherwise, he’ll be plagued forever by that memory of disaster.”

Someone else said just the opposite: “C’mon, the guy’s a top pro. Best thing for him to do is just shake it off and forget about it. Go out and have a couple of beers and don’t give it a second thought. Hey, it’s golf—that kind of thing happens.”

So, if you were to meet up with Jordan Spieth, and after you expressed your sympathies for his tough performance at the Masters, what kind of advice would you give him to bounce back?

Or, what would you advise a baseball player who is stuck in a horrendous batting slump?

Or a basketball player who can’t seem to sink free throws with any real consistency, especially at the end of a game when the score is close?

Or a field goal kicker who has a very strong and accurate leg, but also seems to have difficulty in delivering in clutch situations?

If there is one target goal you want to learn about and take away from this book, it’s the concept of how to get “into the zone” … That’s the ultimate reward.

BUT FIRST, A LITTLE HOMEWORK

There are all sorts of ways to get into the psychology of improving your performance. But let’s start with the basic presumption that, in an ideal world, top athletes are always hoping to be able to slow the action down in the heat of competition and to focus on what they can do and how they can do it.

In short, to perform at a high level on a consistent basis.

Sure, physical talent and repetitive practice are essential. But once you begin to climb the steep slope of the athletic pyramid, you begin to recognize that all of your competitors are pretty much just like you: they are physically talented and, like you, they have devoted most of their life to endless practice to improve and hone their skills.

Don’t believe me? Be sure to Google the 2017 Gatorade commercial about difference makers featuring current NFL superstar J. J. Watt. That short, entertaining, and powerful commercial does a terrific job in highlighting how you and all of your competitors are all working your tails off in order to get a competitive advantage.

So, if your peers are top athletes—just like you—how does one reach the next level where they not only compete … but also win?

Think about that.

Let me explain so there’s no misunderstanding. Let’s say you’re hoping to someday play on a college team. Or you have your sights set on someday playing at the professional level. If that’s true, then you owe it to yourself to take a few minutes to do a little homework on the athletic accomplishments of some of today’s college and pro stars.

To do that, choose a few of your favorite athletes. Go online and Google them. Go to their Wikipedia page, or if you want, go to the college website where they currently play, or to the website for their pro team.

Scan quickly down to their high school achievements. You’ll see that no matter where that individual grew up—whether it was in Orlando or Topeka or Spokane or wherever—that athlete won all sorts of accolades and awards in their youth. All-League. All-County. All-State. Team captain. League MVP. And so on.

And in many cases, these achievements weren’t just in one sport, but a variety of sports, meaning that these athletes were so gifted that they didn’t have to specialize in just one activity as a youth. In other words, these individuals were clearly viewed as top athletes when they were growing up.

Now, do this: take a few moments to check out some of the backgrounds of some of this athlete’s teammates. Especially at the professional and Division I level, a quick scan of most of the other players on that team will reveal similar outstanding athletic accomplishments and achievements from when they were in high school. In short, there are a lot of top athletes in this country, they come from all over, and they all have terrific athletic resumes. And it should also be apparent that these individuals are totally dedicated to their sport, and stay in top shape all year round in order to remain at the top of their game.

My point is this: If there are so many top, top athletes out there, and all of them are accomplished, and all of them are eager to compete and win, what becomes the critically important element in their drive to succeed as they take the field, court, or ice?

When I was working with the Cleveland Indians, I recall discussing this very point with a number of the major leaguers as well as with other top professional athletes. And they all pointed to one element: the mental side of their game. They just felt that in addition to all of their physical preparation, such as running, lifting, skill training, and practice, as they climbed up higher on the pyramid of athletic competition, they found that they could no longer just depend on their God-given athletic skills. Instead, they needed to spend an ample amount of time working on their individual mental approach to each game.

That is, as a youngster or as a high school athlete, they worked hard on developing their physical game, and for the most part, they were so good at running, jumping, catching, throwing, hitting, and so on that so long as they felt physically ready to go when the games began, they would not only succeed, but would often dominate.

But that situation changes dramatically when such athletes reach the next level in sports. Invariably, that quantum leap from, say, high school or travel team to college is often a leap that very few athletes are prepared for. For the first time in their athletic careers, they are confronted with facing other top competitors who are just as talented, as big, and as fast as they are. Suddenly, it’s as though they have become … average.

No longer a big fish in a small pond—but now an average fish in a much bigger pond—deep down these athletes start to worry about how they are going to find a way to prove that they are superior to all of their new teammates. In some cases, they just don’t match up. A player who was a star 6-foot-4 center on his high school basketball team suddenly discovers on his college team that there are 6-foot-4 guards and that the centers and forwards he’s competing against are 6-foot-8 or taller, and they are just as coordinated as he is. In those kinds of cases, the player has some important decisions to make: Do I quit? Do I understand that I won’t get much playing time? Or do I consider transferring to a less competitive basketball program?

The point is, physically, he’s just not going to be able to match up. And from a psychological perspective, this is also quite a blow to a youngster who has been a star. In short, it’s a very hard transition.

Now, what about the kid who is 6-foot-8 and who does have the physical skills and talent to compete against that level of competition? What does he have to do in order to impress the coaching staff in order to make the starting five?

In other words, when you have two or more top athletes competing against each other and they all have similar physical skills, what makes the difference between one of them being more consistent and more productive in their play than another? From a coach’s point of view, invariably, that’s what you want: a player who delivers on a consistent basis, someone you can count on during the tough games.

This is when lots of athletes begin to search for that extra edge—and that’s where the mental side becomes a part of their everyday life. Athletes want to know how to shut out any and all distractions so they can perform at a higher level. They want to be focused on the task at hand that they are not even aware of the crowd cheering, even though the stadium is packed and is rocking. They just wanted the game to slow down so that they could play at a consistently high level.

In other words, they wanted to be “in the zone.” Why? Because when you reach it, your entire body and brain are totally synced and locked in—and all of your hard work at practice, combined with your God-given talent, come together with just the right mental balance to allow you to perform at your peak ability.

That’s the ultimate aim of sports psychology.

And that’s the purpose of this book. To try and elevate you to the highest level of your athletic ability.

Is this easy? No. Are there are any guarantees? No. Do you have to be able to understand a lot of psychobabble mumble-jumble? No.

But one thing is for sure. If you don’t have a grasp of what the mental game is about, you’re going to be heading into direct competition with other top athletes who do. And that puts you in a very distinct disadvantage.

“LOOK AT YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR … AND DO IT NOW!”

Let me take a moment to tell you about Harvey Dorfman, who did more to revolutionize the field of sports psychology than anybody else over the last forty years.

Harvey, who passed away at age seventy-five a few years ago, was a former high school English teacher who grew up in the Bronx before eventually marrying and then moving his wife and kids to rural Vermont where he taught at a local private school. Plagued his entire life with a shortness of breath that caused him to cough every few seconds, Harvey loved all sports, was super competitive, and despite his breathing disability, was good enough to become a goalkeeper for his college soccer team.

A prolific reader of serious literature and a superb writer as well, Harvey—he penned his books as H. A. Dorfman—used to spend his summers watching the Class AA farm team of the old Montreal Expos in Vermont. Bit by bit, he befriended Karl Kuehl, who was the farm director for the Expos and before long, Dorfman was providing helpful mental insights to some of the players.

This was all taking place in the early 1980s when, as I mentioned above, the world of sports psychology was not really well accepted in pro sports. Dorfman was truly a pioneer in the world of baseball, especially when Kuehl (who had moved onto the Oakland Athletics) hired him to work as their roving sports psychology coach.

Let me put this into perspective. This move was unheard of. Absolutely revolutionary stuff. No other professional baseball organization at that time—in fact, I’ll bet that no pro team of any kind—had a mental skills coach on their payroll.

Also, bear in mind that Harvey was trained as an English teacher. He didn’t have a doctorate in psychology. And except for coaching the girls’ varsity basketball team for a year or two, he really hadn’t coached at any level. In other words, he was an educator with no background in psychology or even baseball for that matter.

But Harvey had a distinctive talent when it came to communicating with athletes. He was blessed with a gravelly voice that boomed no matter where he was. To make ballplayers feel more comfortable in talking with him, Dorfman deliberately sprinkled his language with all sorts of profanities. And he sure wasn’t bashful. He didn’t care who you were, or how big a star you were … he knew how to get into your face, and as he said, would force you to “look in the mirror at yourself.”

This was Harvey’s blunt approach—direct and confrontational. I remember him telling me over and over again, “Rick, if you want to simply tell these major-league baseball players to just think pure and positive thoughts, or to allow them to make excuses for themselves, well, you’re wasting your time—and theirs as well.”

Dorfman would say, “My job is to do what their posse or entourage is not doing. These hangers-on are surrounding the athlete, telling him how great he is, and how talented he is … when what the ballplayer really needs to hear is that he’s not getting the job done.”

Dorfman would be fired up by now: “Even today’s managers and coaches won’t tell these guys the truth … they’re afraid that they will insult them and as a result, will lose any thread of a relationship with their star player.

“But that’s what these guys need … somebody to make them accountable. Somebody to hold up a mirror to their face and say, ‘Look, you’re hitting less than .200, or you’re not throwing strikes and your ERA is sky-high.’

“And then I tell them, flat out: ‘What are you going to about your lousy performance? Don’t look to me for the answers, because I don’t have any. It’s all up to you to figure out the answer. Do you need to go back and watch more videotape and pay close attention? Do you need to start making more adjustments during the game? Do you need to get back into physical shape? Whatever the solution is, it’s in you … and you’re getting paid a lot of money to find the answer!’”

When I first saw Harvey do this with a promising young major leaguer, I was stunned. It was so in-your-face, I didn’t know what would happen. And yet, the young star listened intently and when Harvey stopped to catch his breath and cough, the kid jumped up and profusely thanked him: “Harvey, nobody has ever had the guts to tell me the truth about myself. I’ve always had someone around me to make an excuse for me whenever I fell into a slump. But the truth is … I hear you. I need to step up for myself, once and for all, and start pinpointing what I need to do to get back on the right track.”

As noted, I was stunned watching this.

But I...

Índice

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• A Little Background…
• Chapter 1: An Introduction to Sports Psychology
• Chapter 2: The Positive Power of Superstitions
• Chapter 3: “Seeing” Yourself Succeed
• Chapter 4: The Slippery Slope of Setting Goals
• Chapter 5: Dealing with Pregame Jitters
• Chapter 6: The Road to Making In-Game Adjustments
• Chapter 7: When You Think ... You Stink
• Chapter 8: Accountability and “Self-Talks”
• Chapter 9: The Power of the Mental Cue Card
• Chapter 10: “Stay in the Moment” and Find Your Focal Point
• Chapter 11: The Gift of Adversity: What is Mental Toughness?
• Chapter 12: How Sports Parents can Introduce Their Kids to Sports Psychology
• One More Note—The Joy of Playing at the Elite Level
• Summary of Key Points
• Selected Bibliography
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• About the Author